NEW YORK — Touring behind his first new album in six years, Glenn Danzig came to New York and gave his fans what they craved — an hour of brutal, bludgeoning, bluesy hard-rock executed with soaring vocals and impeccable musicianship. But first, the man known as the Elvis of Evil and the Jim Morrison of Metal had to scrape off a few years worth of rust.

The former Glenn Anzalone, an Italian-American kid from Lodi, Danzig transformed his adolescent fascination with monsters and the macabre into a 30-plus-year career, starting with his seminal horror-punk band the Misfits in the late ’70s. The gloomy Samhain and then the more metal Danzig band — his current group — followed. Performing at the near-capacity Nokia Theatre on Friday night, he greeted the New York audience like a favorite son coming home, bringing cheers with every fist pump and mention of Manhattan.

He certainly brought the goods, delving deep into his catalog with crowd-pleasing, seldom-heard selections from the earliest Danzig records, all considered heavy-metal classics. He performed only two tracks from the group’s new album (officially released today), “Deth Red Sabaoth” — a shaky reading of the leadoff track “Hammer Of The Gods” and a more assured take on the bluesy “On A Wicked Night” (which he dedicated to the late Peter Steele of Type O Negative, who passed away in April.)

Overshadow Danzig? The idea seems almost unthinkable. He is the man who brought near-operatic baritone vocals to horror-rock, earning frequent comparisons to legends like Elvis and Morrison.

But at the start of the show, he sounded hoarse and winded, barking lyrics in short phrases. When he bellowed in his gruff bottom register, his vocals disappeared into the mix, swallowed by the bass. And on those famous high notes, he sounded strained and — as they say on “American Idol” — pitchy.

Danzig, notoriously camera-shy, banned all cameras from the venue. Concertgoers waiting on line were warned by security that anyone caught taking so much as a cell-phone photo would be ejected. At 54, the man remains remarkably well-preserved, although a large bald spot materialized through his shoulder-length black hair as he sweated through the set, and his famous barrel chest is now exceeded by several inches of gut.

It took much of the set, but eventually Danzig warmed up and those clarion tones returned to his vocals. He treated the crowd to “Thirteen,” the gloomy cowboy song he wrote for Johnny Cash, wailed through “Black Angel, White Angel” from “Circle Of Snakes,” and finished with a deafening singalong to his classic hit “Mother.” For the encores, he delivered near-flawless takes on “She Rides” and “Long Way Back From Hell,” from the first two Danzig albums.

Danzig’s former Misfits band mate Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein opened the show with his over-the-top horror-metal group Gorgeous Frankenstein, delivering tuneless, frantic, industrial speed-metal. Even the heavy fog machine cloud that enveloped the stage couldn’t hide the fact that Gorgeous Frankenstein’s desperate attempt to rekindle the past would get them laughed off the stage at any local battle of the bands.

Here is the setlist of Friday's concert:
SkinCarver
Twist Of Cain
Hammer of the Gods
Her Black Wings
Tired Of Being Alive
How the Gods Kill
Do You Wear the Mark?
On a Wicked Night
It's Coming Down
Thirteen
Unspeakable
Bringer of Death
Black Angel, White Angel
Mother